Without Falling
by Blank Baka
Summary: A mission, an execution, and a new future. Everything was planned, everything was perfect. Perhaps, though, not so perfect as they had conceived it to be. [SakuraItachi]


Without Falling

A mission, an execution, and a new future. Everything was planned, everything was perfect. Perhaps, though, not so perfect as they had conceived it to be. [Sakura/Itachi.

_**Disclaimer: **__i don't own naruto._

-----_Chapter One_

"Your mission, Sakura, is to go back in time and kill Uchiha Itachi."

Seriously this had to be a joke - some soft of horrible prank of Tsunade's part, but her sensei wasn't laughing. Nor was Kakashi who stood stiffly beside her, looking anything but pleased. "Surely--Tsunade-sama, there is someone better suited for this..."

"No Sakura. You have been chosen; you have already proved your worth to this village ten times over, the finest healer, and a high-ranking chunin, all at fifteen. The leaders and I have the utmost faith in you." The praise, though high it was, did nothing to help Sakura feel at ease, her gut twisted and she felt as though she were going to give birth to kittens at any moment.

"But isn't Itachi--" she tried again.

Tsunade held up a small scroll, sliding it over the table to her. "This scroll will send you back to the time when Itachi was still only seven. You are to kill him as quickly and cleanly as possible. Let no one see you, leave nothing of your presence behind. And remember, he may look like a child, but that boy will soon become a killer--a heartless killer. No mistakes Sakura."

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi broke in suddenly, and Sakura finally noticed the rough, dark marks under his eyes. "This is years beyond Sakura, she's never even killed before!"

True, Sakura's hands, unlike most shinobi her age, were still relatively unstained, none had yet to be slain by her hands. But...if she did this, Sasuke wouldn't have left, Sasuke might still smile, the death of a brother, one five years your elder and you still but a babe, is truly awful. But the death of a brother against the slaughter of entire clan...

"I'll do it." Sakura said standing and looking at Kakashi. "I can do this, sensei, believe in me."

"No Sakura. You can't." She looked down - _hurt_ - Kakashi looked to Tsunade, needing to stop this before it got started. "Sakura is still young, too young--too," she stopped as if searching for the right words.

"Kakashi, Sakura can handle it, she is my student."

"She's mine as well!" he snapped, looking as angry as Sakura or the older woman had ever seen him. "I won't allow this!" He looked at Tsunade's honey eyes, studying the thin resolve within them, before turning to Sakura: her eyes told him all he already knew. She wasn't ready for something like this; her eyes sparkled with the innocence of her youth, careless in the open emotion they displayed. Sakura might never be a killer.

"I can do it!" She cried shrilly, looking as angry as he. "I can! Don't think so little of me!"

Kakashi grabbed her harshly by the shoulders, glaring down into her eyes. "Sakura, don't be foolish. This isn't like any mission you've had before, no back up, no plan B. Any mistakes and it's your life, any mistakes and everything is ruined. And - if you succeed, could you live knowing you killed a boy, he may be a killer one day, but at that moment he is still a child-without the stains of life, could you live with that?"

Sakura looked away from him, to the floor, the wall and then back to him, her eyes tracing the carved mark of leaf upon his fore-head protector. Was Sasuke worth killing? Would it be worth it to see him smile, for him to grow up loved and happy...? "I am," she told the silver-haired man slowly. "I ... Can live with it. I will."

Kakashi gripped her shoulders harder and then let go suddenly, his heart clenching at the idea of loosing another student. "I can't stop you then, but know that my approval isn't in this decision." Sakura nodded once, knowing this was all the approval she'd ever get from him.

"Very well," Tsunade said, "Sakura pack tonight, tomorrow will be your mission briefing, you leave in two nights."

-----

more of a prologue than a first chapter, something that popped into my head and i felt the need to get it down on paper. review, cookies and another chapter in probably about an hour, lol.

blank baka

[add meh, for whatever reason, you make one: myspace dot com/ anna underscore banana underscore chan (remove spaces).


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